Home on the range...

[khiemtran]

Giraffes were first introduced to Australia by African settlers on the western coast, looking for a touch of home.



They quickly spread across the southern half of the continent, taking advantage of their enormous stride length.



As you can see, they are quite amazing creatures up close.




The first rhinos, meanwhile, were believed to have been offloaded by Arab trading ships blown off course en route to China. At one stage, a small wild population flourished in Victoria, but now they are critically endangered.



As you can see, there's quite a queue to see these rare animals. This is the Werribee safari bus station, where visitors wait for their assigned rides.



Side opening doors provide easy access for both tourists and carnivorous exhibits.



Camouflage allows the buses to sneak up on the more dangerous animals completely unobserved.



See? These wild zebras are descended from pack animals used by Kenyan prospectors during the great gold rush. As often happens, with no natural predators, the population blew completely out of control, resulting in the construction of the Zebra-Proof Fence which divides Queensland and NSW from the rest of the country.



Sporadic attempts were made to control the zebra population by the introduction of lion. Despite early successes, none of the attempts managed to reduce zebra numbers for long, and there was the also unintended effect of predation on the human populations.



Of course, you can see native animals at Werribee too. For example, these Bunyips or Australian Black Hippos.



The first African explorers named them Kubu, using the Swahili name for the African Hippopotamus.



Like its African cousin, the Australian Black Hippo is extremely dangerous, and is the source of many legends.



If one should escape, diving into the water is not recommended.



Edit: The keen-eyed may notice some factual errors in the above post. For example, Kubu is in fact derived from the Northen Sotho language and not from Swahili.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I WANT THIS ALL TO BE TRUE!

What does it say (what is the language) under the lion pic?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Fully half of it IS true!

What does it say (what is the language) under the lion pic?

That's a very good question. My guess is it's Northern Sotho and it means (translating word by word) "Area of the Lion Ahead".

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I love, love, love that sign of a hippo munching a human. Morbid yes, but the colors are so cheerful and the rusting so artistic. :P

Once upon a time, I visited a giraffe orphanage in Kenya, and received "giraffe" kisses. Of course, they did not necessarily want to kiss me, but they definitely wanted the feed pellets I was holding between my teeth. Sadly, my scrapbook with photos documenting my silliness has long since disappeared with my many moves and storing things with less-than-reliable people. :-

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Cool! (But also: Ewww!)

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

[see icon].

Wonderful introduction to Australia's lesser-known wildlife!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Unfortunately, the big cats were all sleeping (mostly under trees, sensibly enough), so I didn't get any good shots of them.